The streak of MHSAA U.P. Cross Country Finals victories for the Munising Mustangs girls program has come to an end. After three straight championships, the Mustangs took second place on Saturday, Oct. 21 at the Farmhouse B and B course in Gladstone.
“The girls fought hard. We knew we really wanted to go for another championship again, but honestly, we have been fighting from behind all season, and our top three girls really put a lot out there,” said Munising Head Coach Mark Kinnunen.
Led by fifth-overall runner Alexandra Goss, the Mustangs scored 71 points, 33 points out of first place. Olivia Cotey and Kate Mattson joined Goss as allstate runners, finishing tenth and 12th overall. Avery Seymour and Julia Prunick rounded out the team in 30th and 31st overall positions.
Unlike the past three seasons, Munising’s enrollment was large enough to move up to Division 2, which includes teams with enrollment of 177-274. While there are roughly half the teams of Division 3, the second division saw a new opponent in the Hancock Bulldogs.
Hancock was looking to complete their own threepeat after winning the last two years. They were able to put Ella Keranen and Rayna Towles at second and third overall, but scored first and second in team points because the champion did not have enough teammates for a score. Jill Berg also ran in the top 10, finishing eight overall. The Bulldogs finished their scoring with 17th and 18th overall from Jolene Larson and Kysa Givens, respectively.
“We got outclassed by a very, very strong team,” Kinnunen said. “Nothing to be disappointed by. I’m pretty proud of how they ran.”
Ironwood finished third as a team with 93 points. Rudyard and the Gogebic co-op team of Bessemer and Wakefield-Marenisco rounded out the top five.
Ishpeming’s Lola Korpi won the individual title again, beating Keranen by almost two minutes. She was the only runner in the race to break 20 minutes, finishing the 5k-course in 19:04.8. She is expected to sign her collegiate letter of intent sometime this week. Manistique’s Maya Carlson also finished in fourth with a 21:26.4.
